Middle-aged Maverick

“Let Your Freak Flag Fly”

Describe something you learned in high school. What I learned in high school?! Oh boy. I feel a whirlwind of snarky comments coming on with this one. High school was not a good experience for me. The combination of trauma I experienced at home made it difficult for me to handle situations appropriately at school.…

Describe something you learned in high school.

What I learned in high school?! Oh boy. I feel a whirlwind of snarky comments coming on with this one. High school was not a good experience for me. The combination of trauma I experienced at home made it difficult for me to handle situations appropriately at school. I had no guidance from my parents so I did what felt good for me and that resulted in me learning that teenagers can be just plain mean. Bullying is not a new thing and good grief did I learn all about it when I was in high school. The trauma from that alone made me feel dread as a teacher for the students who excitedly graduated from my school after the 8th grade and went on to high school. I told them over and over to be themselves and not change for anybody. Maybe that’s the lesson I really learned.

I remember doing things to fit in and be accepted. So much of what I liked and didn’t like was influenced by the people I hung around with. Not everything. But enough for me to wish I had the bravery to confidently be myself for those four years.

That’s the thing about high school though. Teenagers are in that developmental stage where their friends are indeed their greatest influencers. Not to mention all the hormones and physical changes that are happening that make it just so damn hard to feel good about yourself.

So I guess really, the one thing I learned is how important it is to be yourself. I think I’m pretty awesome right now. At this very moment I love myself and I think all the little things about who I am make me pretty cool. Those things existed in high school, I’m almost certain. But looking at how I suppressed it all back then, I have learned now that it’s ok to be me. Letting people influence what and how I do things feels tiring.

I wish those high school bound 8th graders would believe my “be yourself” advice. Maybe they did believe me but were afraid to do it. I think that’s more likely. I like to think that some of them absolutely went to high school and maintained the spunky, out-going personalities I came to know and love when I was their teacher. Hopefully.

10 responses

  1. Not all who wander are lost Avatar
    Not all who wander are lost

    I am so grateful that I’ve gotten used to being thought strange early on. I was blessed that I found a group of equal equally eclectic people in high school so we just did our own things 🙂

    Reply
    1. cathymack62 Avatar
      cathymack62

      That’s awesome! I went through a variety of groups of friends over those years. It wasn’t until my senior year that I found a little group that I stuck with and stayed in communication with after graduation.

      Reply
  2. Alexandria Avatar
    Alexandria

    Whatever do you mean? I like to think myself quite normal, it’s the world around that’s just strange. I’ve yet to find a person who can sit and actually describe normal to me without it sounding like they had to reference a dictionary. Conditioned to compartmentalize the reality of the presented world in a unified way, is my dictionary definition of how others come to perceive normalcy. I’ve always wondered with all this machine learning and big data thats collected on us all if we could assign people grades on how well they box the brain into boxes. A metric of how well they can categorize themselves, flaws and all. I’d be most interested to see peoples reactions to that number and then ask if they were truly ok with it, implications and all. Maybe ask if we should instead just grade on a curve to have them move along. Oh to be a C- human. I wonder if people would actually begin to feel small for not being unique at all. Probably not, but a fun moment for pause. Thank you for the read and your time. 💜

    Reply
    1. cathymack62 Avatar
      cathymack62

      Very interesting thoughts here! I agree too that “normal” really isn’t a thing because what is even considered normal? And who gets to decide what is?

      Reply
  3. Belvesuscounselling Avatar
    Belvesuscounselling

    As the original school wild child I wholeheartedly agree with you. Keep encouraging them. It’s teachers like you that make all the difference.

    Reply
    1. cathymack62 Avatar
      cathymack62

      Thank you for that! I’m not a teacher anymore, but I was for 18 years and 1 year as a principal. So that’s a good number of kids over the years that hopefully heeded my advice.

      Reply
  4. traciesulpazo Avatar
    traciesulpazo

    How to be yourself is one of most important lessons. It’s one of the few that will stick with you. I don’t remember how to disect a frog or what X equals, but I do know who I am and what I am about.

    Reply
    1. cathymack62 Avatar
      cathymack62

      Yes! Exactly! Although I will forever remember dissecting a fetal pig in 10th grade biology because that was sort of horrifying.

      Reply
  5. My CBDTrend World🌍 Avatar
    My CBDTrend World🌍

    Wonderful🌍

    Reply
  6. Alice Smiths EPEX Avatar
    Alice Smiths EPEX

    ❤️❤️

    Reply

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Middle-aged Maverick is indeed middle-aged and she’s proud of it. She has a tendency to over think and over analyze many of the things she encounters in her life, as evidenced in many of her posts. She knows how to drive a stick-shift car, prefers Coke over Pepsi, and spent many of her adolescent years being obsessed with Jim Carrey.

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